Caterpie Line/RBY
In all three games, Caterpie can be found in Viridian Forest. In Red and Blue, it can also be found on Route 25. In Blue only, it can also be found on Routes 2 and 24. Metapod can be found on the same routes with the exception of Route 2. One of the original "cocooning" bugs, Butterfree is a common sight on Nuzlocking teams...at least in the beginning, that is. A quick evolution makes it a handy companion in the early game while status effects as well as Psychic-type moves in a region dripping with Poison types allow it to hang in there longer than may be expected. Ultimately, though, low stats combined with the somewhat unreliable accuracy of its spore moves lead to it being muscled out by later catches. Important Matchups - Yellow = * Rival (Route 22, optional): Metapod's hopeless, but Butterfree might be able to take on Eevee with Confusion spam; it largely depends on how trollish Sand-Attack is. Spearow's right out; Peck is painful. * Gym #1 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): Both his Pokemon have poor Special and no Rock moves, making them easy prey for Confusion. * Rival (Cerulean City): Now that Butterfree has access to Sleep Powder and Stun Spore, Spearow is actually manageable and Eevee is a lot less luck-based. Sandshrew should go down pretty quick too, with its low Special. Rattata's also specially frail, though it's best to status it anyway to be on the safe side as Hyper Fang hits pretty hard. * Gym #2 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): A few Confusions will do Staryu in. Starmie, however, can wall the crap outta Butterfree, though it can at least throw a Stun Spore in Starmie's face-analogue to lessen the burden for its teammates. * Rival (S.S. Anne): His team is the same as in Cerulean, just with more levels, so apply the same tactics - Stun Spore/Sleep Powder followed by Confusion spam. * Gym #3 - Lt. Surge (Vermillion City, Electric-type): Ever seen a bug zapper at work? That should give you a good idea of Butterfree's odds of survival, let alone victory, here. * Gym #4 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): Ironically, despite being less evolved than they were in Red/Blue, Weepinbell and Gloom are actually more dangerous- a single crit Acid from Weepinbell could kill Butterfree while one from Gloom will leave Butterfree with little health. Tangela, though, is pretty safe to fight, though it'll take some time due to its lack of Psychic weakness and respectable Special, especially if you still haven't picked up Psychic (which you should have by now.) * Giovanni (Rocket Hideout, Ground-type): If you have Mega Drain and can outspeed you can take on Onix, otherwise avoid it. Tear apart Rhyhorn with either Mega Drain or Psychic. For Persian, you'll want Sleep Powder/Stun Spore support; it can take off a decent amount of health after Screech, or on a crit. * Rival (Pokémon Tower): Fearow is strangely lacking in Flying STAB, so Confusion/Psychic spam can beat it; don't use status effects or they'll be Mirror Moved right back. Spam Confusion, Psychic or Mega Drain against Shellder, though you may have to heal depending on the length of its Clamps. Vulpix is manageable with status, though for safety's sake you should avoid it if your best attacking move is Confusion. Magnemite currently lacks Electric moves; just make sure your health is above 20 at all times and you'll do fine. Sandshrew and Eevee remain unchanged. * Gym #5 - Koga (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): Three Venonats and a Venomoth, none of which have Poison STAB. All aboard the Psychic spam express! Next stop: easy Soul Badge! * Fighting Dojo (Saffron City, Fighting-type): Butterfree's Psychic tears through the Hitmons like they were made of tissue paper. * Rival (Silph Co.): The only thing here Butterfree can safely fight is Sandslash, as Gen I's derpy AI will stick it with spamming weak Poison Stings. Everything else walls Butterfree with respectable Special stats, and with the exception of Kadabra, are packing SE moves in the form of Ember (Ninetales/Flareon), Thundershock (Magneton/Jolteon) or Aurora Beam (Cloyster/Vaporeon). * Giovanni (Silph Co., Ground-type): Psychic will take out the Nidos, (though if you've suffered Defense drops by the time you get to Nidoqueen, switch out first to clear them) while Mega Drain polishes off Rhyhorn. Persian's still risky but doable with status support. * Gym #6 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): Technically you could use the Abra to set up a full set of X Specials (and an X Accuracy) and proceed to mop up her team with status and Psychics or Mega Drains (Gust and Tackle are actually stronger, but you've probably gotten rid of them by this point). In practice, this is a very risky maneuver; crits will plow through all your careful setup and leave Butterfree with little health, possibly even killing depending on EVs and IVs. Best to stick to a physical attacker or someone with better Special for your setup strategies. * Gym #7 - Blaine (Cinnabar Island, Fire-type): No! Don't go killing off your Butterfree this late in the proceedings! * Gym #8 - Giovanni (Viridian City, Ground-type): Dugtrio can't even touch you, so go right ahead. It's probably best to avoid Persian; Butterfree really can't handle those permacrit Slashes very well. Apply Psychic directly to the Nidos, but be cautious; while Butterfree can survive a regular Thunder easily a crit will take out a massive chunk of health. Lastly, don't battle Rhydon; this version has Rock Slide. * Rival (Route 22, pre-Elite Four): Like before, yes to Sandslash and no to everything else. The newcomer Exeggcute shouldn't be fought by Butterfree either; while its movepool is nonthreatening Butterfree simply can't damage it very well. * Elite Four Lorelei (Indigo Plateau, Ice-type): Ice types are very bad news for Butterfree. The only thing it could possibly fight is Slowbro, but even that's a long slog that only gives Slowbro time to build up dangerous Amnesia buffs. Best just to let Butterfree sit this one out. * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): If you outspeed the pair of Onix, a single Mega Drain apiece will mop the floor with them. Meanwhile, Psychic makes short work of the Fighting types; Machamp's the only one likely to survive a hit and even a crit Strength is survivable. Not bad for an early game bug! * Elite Four Agatha (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Psychic can plow through everything she has, and even Golbat's Wing Attack and Arbok's Acid are rather low threatwise. (Though odds are, if you want Butterfree to fly solo on this, healing will likely be required, since nothing here will be oneshotted.) * Elite Four Lance (Indigo Plateau, Dragon-type): There are way too many high-power attacks (Hyper Beam in particular) flying around for something as physically frail as Butterfree. It can't even face the Dragonair pair in this version, as one has Thunderbolt and the other Ice Beam. * Champion Rival (Indigo Plateau): ''' As far as Butterfree's concerned, nothing of note has changed. Sandslash is still the only safe fight. Sooooo much super-effectiveness... * '''Post-Game: Butterfree doesn't have nearly enough stats for facing Mewtwo. Even staying in long enough to inflict a status effect is taking a gamble with Butterfree's life. }} Moves Its pre-Butterfree moves are unremarkable; Tackle and String Shot to start with and then Harden when it evolves at level 7. (That is if you're playing Yellow; Red/Blue users can only have a Metapod with Harden if they caught it as a Metapod. Gen I is weird sometimes.) Upon reaching level 10 it'll evolve and, in Yellow, immediately learn Confusion, with RBers having to wait 'til level 12. Either way it's a solid move for the generally Special-poor early game. At levels 15/16/17 for RB or 13/14/15 for Yellow it learns PoisonPowder, Stun Spore and Sleep Powder; of the three the one you don't want to keep is PoisonPowder as the health drain is minor and many Pokemon are immune to it anyway. At level 21 or 18 it learns Supersonic; probably not worth a slot with its lousy 55% accuracy. At level 28 in Yellow only it learns Gust... in the Gen where it's a Normal-type move. What's the point? Lastly, at level 32 or 34 it learns Psybeam which at least is a step-up over Confusion. As for TMs, the first one to come to mind is Psychic. Mind, it's a bit low-tier as far as pseudo-Psychics go, but if you're using it anyway you might as well make the best of it. Mega Drain will only beat out Psychic against a 'mon that's doubly weak to it, but for those situations it's priceless. SolarBeam might be another option, though given Butterfree's frailty it's not recommended unless the opponent's been put to sleep and having to spend three turns for one move seems a bit excessive. If you're in Yellow and need a Flash slave, it can do that too. Recommended moveset: Psychic, Mega Drain/Solarbeam, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder Recommended Teammates * Water-types: Water types help with many of Butterfree's weaknesses, being able to wash away Rock and Fire types, resisting Ice and often are able to learn Ice moves to counter Flying types. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Blastoise, Seadra, Tentacruel, Vaporeon, Gyarados * Physical Walls: While Butterfree's Special is at least passable it gets hammered by physical moves. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Golem, Weezing, Sandslash, Slowbro, Cloyster * Psychic-types: Butterfree has no surefire way of being able to dent Psychic-types, meaning a Pokemon with a high enough Special stat or another Psychic-type is needed to fight back. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Alakazam, Hypno, Mew, Mr. Mime, Starmie Other Caterpie's stats Metapod's stats Butterfree's stats Note: Availability in Red is closer to a 1.5. * At what point in the game should it be evolved? There's no reason to delay evolution, and it should be fully evolved by Brock. * How good is the Caterpie line in a Nuzlocke? Quite effective as an early-game crutch, but loses steam in the long run and is unlikely to be worth a spot on your final team. Caterpie's and Metapod's type matchups: * Weaknesses: Fire, Flying, Rock, Poison * Resistances: Grass, Fighting, Ground * Immunities: None * Neutralities: Dragon, Ghost, Normal, Psychic, Water, Electric, Ice, Bug Butterfree's type matchups: * Weaknesses: Fire, Flying, Electric, Ice, Poison, Rock (x4) * Resistances: Bug , Grass (x0.25), Fighting (x0.25) * Immunities: Ground * Neutralities: Dragon, Ghost, Normal, Psychic, Water Category:Red/Blue/Yellow Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses